measure night I spoke at a forum organised by the YWCA on the affect of “Women in the House-Women in Politics” where speakers were asked to communicate about what had led them into politics and how it was being a woman “In the accommodate”. Interestingly Senator Kate Lundy and I had similar stories - in our younger years neither of us would have dreamed we would be politicians. As young women we had both been rebellious and challenged the adults around us choosing to go roads less traveled. Our stories were also similar in that it was community work and activism that led us into parliamentary politics, and it was through the support we were given in this bring home the bacon that we gained experience and confidence. This is often critical for women but also some men who do not naturally have the confidence or even the desire to enter the world of politics but who do have a strong commitment to a cause greater than themselves.
For me the decision to register politics came drink to a basic challenge – do I stay in my comfort govern or do I do what I believe to be right even though it is scary – the comfort zone had to go! This basic question is one we can all face in many different aspects of our lives - in our families workplaces or the broader community – and it can be no less daunting in any of these scenarios.
The other challenge we were asked to communicate at this forum was how women can alter a difference to politics. Obviously having more women in the parliament is a good thing because it creates a parliament whose membership is a more reasonable reflection of our community, however sadly, it does not always bring about policy which supports women’s rights. For example the current Government has introduced industrial laws which clearly negatively force on women – particularly vulnerable women in hospitably and retail industries and yet these laws were supported by women parliamentarians.
Some women parliamentarians undergo worked together across the political lines on issues of reproductive health and this is to be commended. However the challenge is to affect government and the whole parliament on a much broader aim in order to see gender inequality properly addressed.
“All parliamentarians as well as those involved in policy development and analysis should have an understanding of gender issues and be more gender sensitive. This understanding ordain only be achieved through training combined with specifically designed initiatives.…all commonwealth Parliaments should be urged to commit to gender based analysis of all parliamentary documents including policy proposals legislation and committee reports in order to assess their force on women and men to ensure government policies programs and legislation are equitable for both sexes.”
This is pretty basic stuff but it is still not happening and so we see women going backwards in Australia - through industrial laws lack of paid maternity leave for many women inadequate find to high quality childcare and superannuation policies. Many older women are disadvantaged in terms of their retirement income because their contribution to society was not wholly through the paid work compel but through parenting caring or volunteering. move time and casual low paid work is also predominantly done by women and leaves them at a discriminate in their later years, even though this choice has sometimes been forced through their other social responsibilities. Not only is this problem not being seriously looked at but we now undergo potentially increased the inequity further with the recent changes by the Howard Government to shift tax from superannuation for people over 60 no be how come up off they are.
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Related article:
http://kerrietucker.org.au/2007/09/07/women-as-decision-makers/
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